Nanophotonics
Our research aims at understanding and controlling light-matter interactions at the nanoscale. This is of key importance for the development of new and innovative devices to address the needs and challenges of our future societies which will be characterised by an aging population, ever increasing energy demands, and exponentially growing data generation. Those trends are already creating new demands that are not answered by current technology.
Understanding and controlling light-matter interactions at the nanoscale will allow to unlock the necessary novel technologies for a thriving innovative society. We concentrate our research in 3 key societal challenges around light-matter interactions at the nanoscale:
- Novel and high-energy efficiency optoelectronic devices
- Innovative optical sensing solutions for medical and environmental applications
- Active plasmonic devices for on-chip signal processing and neuromorphic applications
To achieve those goals, we study:
- The fundamental aspects of light matter interactions at the nanoscale
- Surface enhanced spectroscopy techniques (e.g. SERS-SEIRA)
- Hybrid Plasmonic/Photonic nano-light sources
- Metamaterials and metasurfaces
Contacts: Dr Ali Adawi and Dr Jean-Sebastien Bouillard
NanoElectronics
The NanoElectronics and Mesoscopic Systems group (NEMeSys) is focused on investigating the experimental and theoretical electronic properties of matter, particularly at the nanoscale and/or when nanoparticles are involved. Our activities aim at exploring the use of a range of thin films and nanomaterials in electronic applications such as information storage, energy harvesting, energy storage and sensing applications both using inorganic and organic electronics.
We have a long tradition of research activity and experience in the field of of non-volatile memory devices such as floating gate nanoparticle memories (FLASH), since the early 2000s, and more recently resistive switching memories (RRAM), since 2010. In the last few years we have also started research efforts in integrating electronic devices in the 3D printing process using an all-in-1-go approach.
Our group is proud to boast our own state-of-the-art custom designed and built facility for electrical characterization. More information is available here.
Contact: Dr Emanuele Verrelli
NanoMaterials
Our research aims at creating nanostructured soft materials such as colloids and polymers through powerful bottom-up self-assembly methods. Our expertise is in theoretical modelling, but we collaborate extensively with theoretical and experimental groups in Hull, across the UK and internationally. A key focus of recent research has been to study the self-assembly of colloids at interfaces as the unique behaviour of colloids in this environment provides new exciting opportunities to design dimensionally confined structures in order to create functional nanomaterials, reconfigurable devices and biomimetic systems.
To achieve these goals, we employ both finite-element simulations such as Monte Carlo and Brownian Dynamics and finite-element simulations such as Surface Evolver and computational fluid mechanics.
Through close collaborations with chemistry colleagues, we explore the fundamental optical characteristics of a range of novel nanoparticles and their cutting edge applications.
Our research focuses on inorganic nanoparticles (INPs). INPs are now involved in several applications within, biomedicine, catalysis and environmental remediation, just to mention a few. INPs are generally oxides, sulphides, halides, nitrides, alloys and intermetallic compounds, and their chemical composition are closely related to those of inorganic materials. Yet the breadth of chemical variety is narrower in the nanoworld and complex materials, such as mixed-metal compounds, showing chemical flexibility and a variety of important physico/chemical properties are less widespread. Synthesis and characterisation techniques for INPs are also drawn from solid-state chemistry as well as doping strategies, vastly used to tailor the properties of inorganic solids and create new compounds. Widening the overlap between nanoparticle-specific aspects with the area of traditional inorganic solids will lead to an expanded toolbox of synthetic and doping strategies hence to an expanded range of chemical composition and perhaps unexpected properties for INPs.
Our research focuses mainly, but not exclusively, on (1) new synthetic strategies for the synthesis and/or functionalisation of known INPs, (2) strategies for doping of INPs towards tailoring of physico/chemical properties, (3) deeper understanding of current synthetic procedures, (4) synthetic routes leading to new compositions to translate traditional inorganic materials into the nanoworld.
Contacts: Dr Martin Buzza, Dr Ali Adawi,Dr Jean-Sebastien Bouillard, Dr M. Grazia Francesconi